Computer devices, mobile phones, and other electronic devices are increasingly used to watch movies and videos, such as from a DVD or when streamed from an Internet television service. Unlike watching a movie on a television, however, a user may be passively watching a movie on his or her computer or mobile phone when a screensaver application running on the device automatically activates, and interrupts what the user was watching. The screensaver may turn off the device monitor, suspend activity and processing on the device, and/or initiate displaying different content, such as a background image. A screensaver application is useful for power savings, particularly for battery-powered electronic devices, and a screensaver is typically designed to activate after a designated period of time and when there does not appear to be any user interaction with the device.
Currently, when a user is watching a movie and before the screensaver activates, the user can move a mouse or press a device key to reset the screensaver timeout. However, having to move the mouse every so often to avoid having a movie interrupted may be frustrating for a user, particularly if the mouse input inadvertently initiates a hyperlink causing further interruption of user enjoyment and creating a negative user experience. Optionally, a user can navigate into device settings and turn the screensaver application off, or set the timeout duration for a longer period of time, such as two hours or more, so that a movie is not likely to be interrupted by the screensaver timing out. However, a drawback to manually turning the screensaver application off, or setting the timeout duration for a long period of time, is that power may not be conserved after the movie is over. A battery-powered device in particular may unexpectedly deplete the battery if the user forgets to return the screensaver application to the previous, power-saving settings when the user has finished watching the movie or television show.